Belgrade and Zagreb

Belgrade, Serbia and Zagreb, Croatia

a.k.a Belgreb because us Americans couldn't keep them straight

Nine college students made it on time for our 5:30 a.m train!

 It was destined to be a great trip after conquering that feat.

The group! Thibault (French/Swiss), Morgan (American), Jeremy (French),

 Mari (French/Serbian), Darren (Irish), Alice (French), Clement (French),

me, Florent (French)
None of those names are pronounced like us Americans would think. I believe Morgan and I have finally mastered an acceptable level of pronounciation.

We did a bike tour around the river! I'm obviously becoming an expert cyclist and combined with my newly acquired skills in French I should be ready for the Tour de France next year.

All the French in front of the French embassy! We set out one day to find the American Embassy so that we could have our picture as well... We find the high-security building and Morgan and I were all happy and moved seeing the American flag blowing in the wind on Memorial day. As soon as we stepped in front of the embassy, on the sidewalk in the middle of a public street, the guards came out. They told us to move along, so we pulled out our map to see where we should go from there. Then the guard made it clear he wanted us gone that second and escorted us past the embassy. As soon as we were off the 'property' Morgan took a picture. The guard blew his whistle and came quickly towards the group, baton in his hand with his other hand on his gun. BECAUSE OF A PICTURE! Of our own embassy! He made her delete the picture and we moved along quickly. That's when we realized there really was a deep resentment for Americans still and it was dangerous to be American in Serbia. Luckily our nice French friends adopted us and we got to take a picture in front of their embassy later. I'm holding my McDonalds flag to make it a bit more American.

Probably the highlight of the trip: bumper cars

The Irish call cross walks a zebra cross... except they say 'sehbra' instead of 'zeeeeebra' like we say! One day it took a lot of repeating and explanation to understand what Darren was saying to us, so we thought it was hilarious when there was an actual zebra cross!

This looks like a nice enough park, right?

WRONG!

I almost died from flesh eating bacteria after that fountain.

Okay, not really, but close enough.

We were taking a break from walking around the city and I sat on the edge of the fountain. I had on one of my favorite headbands that was a special gift when I leaned back and lost it in the water. Everyone said it was a goner and I should just leave it, but I wanted to get it back! The water was so nasty you could barely see the bottom of the 2 foot deep pool. I finally spotted the headband, so Alice held my legs and Jeremy held my hair and I fished it out! Everyone helped me clean up and recover emotionally...

Belgrade by day and by night

Olympic countdown!

There was so much graffiti in Serbia, but a lot of it was really pretty. It totally changed the look of the city, arguably in a positive way.

Can you guess who this famous Serbian is?

This is a hospital bombed during the war.

We boarded our train in Belgrade at 9:30 p.m. and arrived in Croatia at 5:30 a.m.! We got woken up (from the little sleep we got) numerous times by customs, the train was freeeezing cold, and there were birds chirping in the ceiling of our car! Zagreb was worth it though-- totally beautiful and when else am I going to go to Croatia?!

Backpack buddies! (Oh and I'm officially European

because I wear colored pants)

And the foooood!

The food was delicious! The first night in Belgrade 7 of us went out to eat- side salads, meals, wine and beer for around $45. I think that's when we fell in love with Belgrade...or it could've been when we discovered that beer was 50 cents.

New obsessions.. above is a Serbian salad- cucumber, tomato, onion, feta, with dressings. Probably the yummiest thing ever. I've literally had 10 since we've gotten home. Below is Serbian sausages. Soo tasty and I'm not even a fan of sausage!

Baby strawberries! Alice was telling me about them and I didn't know what she was talking about, but the next day in Croatia we ran across them!

It took nearly an hour to get the water hot enough to cook pasta-we never even got it to boil (we later learned that the front burners don't really work, but the back ones are super). We used 1/3 pasta from Austria and 2/3 what we bought in Serbia... The serbian spaghetti basically dissolved and created this creamy texture that was absolutely horrible! We ate just enough to get by and didn't try to cook in the hostel after that.

Thanks to Darren and Thibault for some pics!

Tomorrow I depart for Belgrade, Serbia!

We'll take a 12 hour train ride to this Balkan country! I'm traveling with 8 others: an American, an Irishman, and 6 French! It'll be an amazing time and we'll have plenty of pictures!

One of my precious friends left these post its on all of our doors..

I'm yet to find out who's the mastermind!

Last night was part I of the semi-finals for "Eurovision". This is an American Idol type competition between European countries. I watched with my Irish friends and boy was it tense! The Irish act secured the last spot in the finals, so we were on pins and needles waiting to hear the results! When they announced the 'golden ticket' winner we erupted! We hope to watch the finals Saturday night in Serbia. It would be amazing if Serbia won- what a party in Belgrade!

Tscheppaschlucht Canyon

The international team organized a visit to "The famous (unbeknown to me) Tscheppaschlucht Canyon". This area is about 20 minutes from Klagenfurt and offered a lovely landscape. We spent all afternoon hiking it's rugged terrain and climbing innumerable stairs, but the views were worth the effort.

It reminded me of Tahlequah-the water, trees, and even a steep hill with white rocks. Can't wait to get back to the cabin, the tubs, all my little cousins making me s'mores, etc.

There was a part of the trail that didn't allow shoes...in the middle of a hike through the wilderness. We all had to take our shoes off and walk through wood chips, then gravel, followed by big stones that really hurt, then through the moss-covered rocks in the water, a bit in dirt, then a section of logs. I'm not sure what the point of this was (maybe they explained in German?!), but it led us to this 'magic circle'. Needless to say, our sore and dirty feet were not happy by this point. They made us walk along the magic path, so we followed directions begrudgingly. At least we got this cool snapshot as we delicately balanced on a small stump. (ignore my psychotic looking eyes)

Lovely French friends above, reppin France

Lovely Aussie friend below

You can take the girl out of the biology department, but you can't take the

 biology department out of the girl...

After warning everyone about the creek water they were drinking, explaining about snakes and their cold blood situation, I discovered this little guy.

I'm callin common field Vole. Microtus arvalis pallus. Dad?

A brief recap...

My Austrian family, Darren and Morgan

Morgan drinkin her some teaaa

We love going to coffee shops and reading or just sitting and chatting. That's one thing I'll definitely miss when we go home, but at least we'll still have each other and the occasional homey-feeling coffee shop  (though we'll have to speak in German to still feel that isolated feeling) :)

A summary of Austria

Dalai Lama

Oh, no big deal, I saw

the Dalai Lama.

So excited!

The Dalai Lama was in Klagenfurt, KLAGENFURT!, for a lecture series this weekend. Ticket prices were outrageous, so we accepted the fact that we wouldn't get to see him. However, at the last minute thanks to my dear friend Corina, we found out he'd be accepting an award in the Neuer Platz (city center area). We woke up early (I was so excited I woke up extra early and got the others up :]) and headed to town where we got prime spots. Shortly after, his Holiness arrived and we got quite a show! Complete with traditional Austrian song and dance we heard the Dalai Lama give a few short lectures. He was funny and so deeply simple. He spoke some in his native tongue and had a German translator (all we got is that he likes Austria because he had a really great breakfast) and then spoke in English. Miriam had attended one of his lectures in India, but she said she didn't even have a good view of one of the jumbo screens, much less the man himself! We were third row, probably 30 yards from him-what a fantastic experience!

Today you get to join me at the grocery store!

I shop at the closest Billa which is conveniently located between Uni and my building. The entire store is the size of a local Walgreens. There's one 'superstore' that I go to for certain items (chicken breast, chicken nuggets, Heinz ketchup), but most of the things I need I can find at this little store!

These are some things I found funny in the store....

 Titz chicken, germ, and weiner art..

Good thing about these trips is that it only takes 10 minutes, including checkout. Bad news is I have to go every few days to stock up! I think grocery stores are going to be difficult to adjust to when I get home--

 one of the many things!

The store hands out a packet of collectible stickers if you spend over 10 euro. Obviously this is quite exciting for an exchange student that doesn't have a lot going on... I became obsessed with the stickers and then they stopped handing them out!! My friend Jeremy found a box of them that they were giving away and brought me alllllll of them :) I spent a whole night with Jeremy, Morgan, and Miriam organizing them to make a complete set! There are 210 total and I'm missing around 25. Hopefully by the time I leave I'll have them all! If I accomplish nothing else in Austria, at least I have this going for me

American Night!

Morgan and I teamed up with two other lovely American gals to cook some food that tastes like home! We decided on TexMex (how American to cook food from other countries, right?) and it was absolutely delicious! Things that taste like home are so comforting.

Pretty girlies! We had a fun night-- it felt so normal, I loved it!